Skenderbeg T-Shirts
The history of Skenderbeg:
Skenderbeg was born Gjergi Kastrioti in the middle Albanian town of Kruja. He was the son of the local ruler. Albania was under Turkish control .To ensure fidelity it was customary for rulers sons to be taken hostage and to be bought up in the Turkish Court. Skenderbeg distinguished himself in battle and was eventually made a general in the Turkish army. But in 1443 he rebelled and recaptured his father's capital Kruja from the Turks and raised the Albanian Flag over the city. Skenderbeg successfully reunited the Albanian princes under his command and for the next 25 years successfully prevented Albanian from being recaptured by the Turkish army, before dying of natural causes in 1468.
Skenderbeg
The Beer
How many beers do you know named after Albanian National Heroes?
One such beer was Beer2go's
Skenderbeg Ale.
In 2005 the shop that was one of the smallest beer shops in the country launched a beer to mark the 600th anniversary of the birth of Skenderbeg a fifteenth century Albanian hero who freed his country from the grip of the Ottoman Empire.
In one of his great battles legend has it that he tied candles to the horns of rams and attacked the Turks at night. The Turks thinking that the opposing army was much greater than it actually was took flight. As Monty Python might have put it "they buggered off!"
The beer was a 5.5% dark, ruddy ale with a creamy head. It was a complex beer with the bouquet of apples and a hint of cloves; reminiscence of mums apple pie. A malty tasting brew with undertones of hop and resin followed by a pleasantly bitter/sour aftertaste.
In a blind tasting this beer could easily have been mistaken for a Belgian offering along the lines of De Koninck. A real ale for a real hero.
Sadly the beer is no more !
